Collecting U.S. Tokens: Challenges and Rewards

INTRODUCTION

One of the best-selling books of 1984 was Helen Hooven
Santmyer's And Ladies of the Club. Part of the appeal of this novel
was its detailed local history of the fictitious town of
Waynesboro, Ohio from 1868 to 1932 against the backdrop of
national history. I have long felt that the study of local history is an
important adjunct to the study of U.S. history, as it personalizes
the events of the times and gives a comprehensible perspective
to national events. And the opportunity for the study of local
history - including original research - is also part of the appeal
of collecting U.S. tokens, especially trade tokens.

It is a curious fact that there is less known about many U.S.
tokens of the 20th century than about most ancient and medieval
coins. We are able to date coins minted 1,000, even 2,000 years
ago more closely than a number of modern tokens, some users of
which are still living. But it is this very opportunity for original
research that attracts collectors of ancient, medieval, and Islamic
coins to the study of modern tokens.

Token tracing is practically a hobby in itself, and more than
one numismatist has commented that it is the greatest reward of
token collecting. Usually old city directories are resorted to first,
and reading them is an education in itself into how people lived
at that time - what businesses they patronized, where they lived,
what their occupations were, even what the rate of growth of the
city was. But city directories are primarily useful for 19th
century tokens; for more recent issues, Duns, Bradstreet's, and Dun
& Bradstreet books are invaluable. Every business in the nation
is contained in these books, and their frequent publication
(though not survival) allows dates of issue to be readily
determined, provided the locality of issue is known. Telephone
directories are useful for even more recent tokens. Genealogical
sources - census records, etc. - are helpful for tokens issued up
to about 1880. Some researchers prefer contacting the
descendants of issuers, which if it can be done yields the best
information (a picture of the store, exact names and purpose of issue,
etc.) and sometimes additional specimens of the token. And
others visit the locality where the token was issued and make
inquiries there. I have personally used all of the above methods,
would rank visiting the place of issue the most fun and studying
microfilm blowbacks of old telephone directories the least, but
all have their place.

In this chapter I will discuss the primary reasons why tokens
were issued, give the history of American tokens from Colonial
times to the present, and - through a bibliography of catalogs of
tokens by state and period - sketch the present state of the
literature on U.S. tokens and the opportunities for further
research.

WHY TOKENS?

Many attempts have been made to classify tokens and
explain the reasons why they were issued. None of these seem
completely satisfactory to me, so I provide my own. Tokens have
been issued primarily for the following purposes:

To provide sufficient currency for small change.
Examples would be the Talbot, Allum, and Lee Tokens
of 1794-1795, which were widely accepted in the days
before the Mint could supply the cent needs of the
nation; Civil War store cards; and even private gold
coins of California, which were "small change"
compared to the $50 slugs. Closely related to this purpose
is that of providing currency in places remote from
banks, as with lumber camp, plantation, and general
store tokens. The $1 gaming tokens of the 1960's fall
into this category also, as they were issued in
response to a shortage of silver dollars.

To provide additional profits in a time of small change
shortage, when tokens could readily be passed for
significantly more than their cost. The anonymous
tokens of the late "Colonial" period; the so-called
"Patriotic" (anonymous) Civil War tokens; and the
Baldwin private gold coins of California are examples
of these.

To provide the convenience of a single piece
representing a denomination that is not coined. Most
transportation tokens fall into this category (7.5 cents,
60 cents, etc.), as do 12.5 cent drink tokens and some
video game tokens (sold at 3 for a dollar).

To make change for the smallest denomination coined.
Sales tax tokens (with denominations of 1 mill, 1/5
cent, 5 mills, etc.) are the commonest examples of
these, but there are also fractional-cent milk and
bread tokens of the Depression.

To allow variable prices to be charged for the same
thing. The earliest non-denominational U.S. trade
token is the 1737 "Value Me As You Please" copper
token of Dr. Samuel Higley of Granby, Connecticut,
but this is not really a good example of this class;
video game tokens which are sold at different prices
at different times of day and bridge and transportation
tokens whose value can be raised with inflation are
better.

To provide a discount. Many general store tokens
were sold at a discount from face value to induce the
farmer to trade at the store, and some modern tokens
actually state that they are good for a discount, either
a percentage or a fixed amount ($5 on a suit, $25 on a
player piano, etc.).

To extend credit. Coal company store tokens, U.S.
plantation tokens, and NCO Club tokens were issued
for this purpose, and most general store tokens were
issued primarily for this purpose also.

To stimulate sales. This is a primary or secondary
purpose of many modern tokens, and is accomplished in
various ways: (1) the token is a metal coupon, offering
a percentage discount or some amount off the regular
price, as in Purpose no. 6; (2) the token is a metal
trading stamp, with a value as low as 1/8 of a cent,
given with each purchase; (3) the token is used to give
a discount on a volume purchase, as with drink, cigar,
and shoeshine tokens; and (4) the token has no
exchange value as such, but is a premium, souvenir, or
lucky piece, as with cereal premium tokens and
tokens commemorating anniversaries of statehood or
the U.S. Bicentennial.

To force or encourage customers to deal at one place.
Prison tokens are an example of forced usage, since
security is involved, but the paramount examples are
coal and lumber company tokens. However, saloon
and tavern tokens - indeed, most trade tokens - are
dispensed with the hope that the customer will
continue to patronize their issuer.

To prove membership in a church or society, or to
limit some commodity or service to certain persons or
to limit customers to certain groups. The earliest
examples of tokens used as a means of restriction in the
United States are Presbyterian communion tokens, of
which the New York Associate Church (New York,
N.Y.) piece of 1799 is the earliest dated specimen.
Beginning in the mid-19th century many Masonic
lodges began using Mark Pennies as a sign of
membership, and other fraternal orders have
followed. Drink and betting tokens issued by lodges also
have this function.

To serve as a tally or chit for something of value.
examples of these are tokens issued to berry pickers,
good for 1 pint, 1 quart, etc. of berries picked; similar
tokens given to cannery or packing company workers
for peeling tomatoes, shucking oysters, etc.; and
receipts for the temporary possession of some item,
such as a hat check, tool check, bottle return,
exploder, or barrel of slops (!). These tokens relieve the
issuer of bookkeeping to keep track of production or
articles, facilitate paying workers by the job, and can
be converted to cash easily if paid out in payment for
work performed. Most tokens in this category are
quite utilitarian, often uniface or made of cardboard,
though several Missouri strawberry picker tokens
depict quite attractive strawberries on one side.

To provide a counter or marker. Nonmonetary
examples of these are game counters, spiel marke, and
poker chips, but such counters have also been used in
commerce to aid a barter-based economy; the
Hudson's Bay Company "made beaver" and "fox" tokens
were used in Canada to simplify trade with the
natives, and perhaps the North West Company one
beaver token of the Oregon country was so used as
well.

To dispense or assist charity or rationing. The earliest
U.S. examples of these are the ration tokens issued to
the Indians in the West in the 1870's; later examples
include the Office of Price Administration (OPA) red
point and blue point tokens of World War II and the
Food Stamp change tokens of the 1960's and 1970's.
(The Food Stamp change tokens had the additional
function of insuring that the Food Stamps were being
spent on eligible foods and not on liquor or luxury
items.)

To encourage patriotism. Most of the earliest U.S.
tokens have patriotic themes in whole or in part, but
the George Washington "Success to the United
States" counters are perhaps the best examples. From
the tokens of the Hard Times period, to the Civil War,
to the Spanish-American War, to World War II, to the
Bicentennial of American Independence, appropriate
patriotic themes have found expression on our
tokens.

To provide advertising for commercial or political
enterprises. Most trade tokens provide some form of
advertising, and many private tokens - called "store
cards" - were issued solely for that purpose. On the
19th century tokens, as Thomas Elder said in 1915,
"we note many references to the panaceas and
nostrums for all ills, speculative schemes, lotteries,
(and) articles of doubtful utility" as well as the
hardware, machine tools, awards won, etc. of the proud
issuers. Advertising in the form of names or slogans
counterstamped upon coins is included in this
category, as are most wooden nickels. Tokens
promoting political candidates and themes have been
issued in great numbers, especially from the election
of 1832 to the 1930's; some have been made since
then, such as the Goldwater dollar of 1964, but today
they have been almost entirely replaced by pinback
buttons.

For jewelry purposes. Early political tokens were
usually pierced for wearing on the person, but the
first purely jewelry pieces are the small California
gold charms issued beginning in 1854. In the 20th
century a great many trashy-looking tokens have been
minted for use as bangles or charms.

For sale as souvenirs or to collectors. Tokens as
souvenirs are extremely common, from the numerous
varieties offered at the World's Columbian Exposition
and later World's Fairs, to the few pieces of obscure
Hay Palaces and Corn Palaces. Even more have been
made for sale to collectors: marked copies of rarities,
souvenir transportation tokens, commemoratives of
every description, and - unfortunately - false pieces
purporting to be Indian trader, Indian Territory, or
saloon tokens.

For gift or trading purposes by collectors and others.
Many "tokens of appreciation" of various kinds have
been issued over the years, and token collectors have
ordered the striking of a full spectrum of tokens for
this purpose, from personal tokens giving their
specialties and membership affiliations to artificial
rarities (mulings and off-metal strikings of genuine
trade tokens) for purposes of exchange. This practice
began in America with the first boom in token
collecting in the late 1850's, but it originated in England in
the 1790's. Virtually all off-metal and muled Civil
War tokens and most overstrikes of them on dimes
were made by collectors after the war, some well into
the 20th century.

HISTORY OF U.S. TOKENS

In the 17th and 18th centuries the distinction between coins
and tokens was not as definite as it is now, so the identity of the
first American token will always remain somewhat
controversial. Some numismatists consider the Sommer Islands
(Bermuda) pieces of circa 1616 - the first issue struck for the English
colonies in America - to be tokens. Certainly they look like
tokens, as they were minted in copper instead of the silver of the
corresponding English denominations. However, it appears that
they were authorized by proclamation of the king, and so had
legal tender status; consequently they should be regarded as
coins.

Other 17th century pieces are the "American Plantations
Token" of 1688, which is really a private coinage similar to
Wood's coinage and the Rosa Americana pieces; the St. Patrick's
halfpence, which are either Irish Loyalist issues of Charles I of
circa 1645 or Dublin tokens of the 1670's, but which in either
case were made a legal tender in New Jersey in 1682; the
mysterious and unique "New England Stiver," now thought to
be a 19th century fantasy; and the London, Carolina, and New
England elephant tokens of circa 1664-1694. Nothing definite is
known of the elephant tokens - whether they were ever
brought to America, in fact - other than that they were struck at
the Royal Mint in the Tower of London. (The "New Yorke in
America" token, probably intended for use as a jeton, is of 18th
century or even 19th century origin.)

My nomination for the first U.S. token, then, is the
Gloucester token of Gloucester County, Virginia. This brass
piece is 22mm in diameter (slightly larger than a nickel) and
depicts on the obverse an 18th century, center-entrance Colonial
building one story high with chimneys at each end. The
inscription (reconstructed from the two known specimens) reads
GLOVCESTER COVRT HOVSE VIRGINIA. with XII below the
building. On the reverse is a large five-pointed star and
RIGAVLT.DAWSON.ANNO.DOM.1714. The famed
numismatist S. S. Crosby thought this piece was a pattern for a shilling,
but the wretched condition of the known specimens coupled
with the silver shortage of the time (Virginia was even
then on a paper economy) makes it clear that this piece was a
shilling token. The Gloucester Courthouse depicted on this
token is still standing, and old land records show that one
Christopher Rigault owned land adjacent to it in 1714. Probably
he was in partnership with a Mr. Dawson, and they issued this
token in connection with their business. For many years it was
believed that two specimens were known of this token, one in
the Garrett Collection at the Johns Hopkins University and the
other in the collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
But when the Massachusetts Historical Society specimen was
sold in 1976, it was discovered to be a cast of the Garrett
specimen. This piece was also sold at auction, in 1980, and
realized $36,000. Just a year later a second specimen turned up
in an accumulation of coins owned by a local woman in
Gloucester, Virginia. It was also sold at auction, on April 30,
1982, but realized only $3,250!

The next tokens are those of the Higley family of Granby,
Connecticut, who owned copper mines there. Dr. Samuel
Higley, a medical doctor with a degree from Yale, purchased the
copper mine property in 1728. In 1737 he issued a copper token
inscribed THE.VALVE.OF.THREE.PENCE. Legend has it that
the local tavern charged threepence a drink and that the good
doctor passed so many of his tokens there that very soon there
came an outcry against accepting them at this value, as they
were no larger than British halfpence though marked with a
value six times as high. The resourceful Dr. Higley then cut new
dies reading VALUE.ME.AS.YOU.PLEASE/I.AM.GOOD.COPPER,
also dated 1737, but continued to suggest that they should
pass as threepence by adding a Roman numeral III on the
obverse. (A mule is known of the
THE.VALVE.OF.THREE.PENCE and the I.AM.GOOD.COPPER dies.) Other
fanciful designs, undated, were issued about this time. While on
a voyage to England in May, 1737 with a shipment of his copper,
Dr. Higley died. His oldest son John Higley, together with the
Rev. Timothy Woodbridge and William Cradock, probably
made the later types, including a final issue dated 1739. Higley
tokens are very rare in any condition and always bring four- or
five-figure prices. Forgeries were made of them many years ago.

A number of anonymous tokens were circulated between
the end of the Revolutionary War and the achievement of high
production by the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia in the mid-1790's,
but the next private token to carry its issuer's name was the Mott
token of New York, New York, issued by William and John Mott
in 1789. (In 1783, goldsmith and silversmith John Chalmers of
Annapolis, Maryland issued a series of silver pieces with values
of threepence, sixpence, and one shilling; in 1787, goldsmith and
silversmith Ephraim Brasher of New York issued several
varieties of gold doubloons and a half doubloon; and in 1790,
silversmith Standish Barry of Baltimore, Maryland issued a
silver threepence. While these pieces could be regarded as
tokens, since they contain their full weight of precious metal I
think it better to consider them private coins.) The Mott token,
of copper, was struck in England and circulated as a penny. This
token was restruck several years later on thicker planchets; by
then the dies were badly broken.

The First Presbyterian Church of Albany, New York issued
1,000 copper penny tokens in 1790 in order to deter
contributions of worn and counterfeit coins. Two varieties are known,
both very rare today. Both are anonymous except for the single
word "CHURCH."

But the most widely circulated of the early coppers are the
Talbot, Allum & Lee cent tokens of 1794 and 1795. This firm of
India traders, located at 241 Pearl Street, New York, had a large
quantity of tokens made in Birmingham, England. There are
three major types: 1794 with NEW YORK, 1794 without NEW
YORK (scarce), and 1795. Both lettered and plain edge
specimens are known, as are a number of mules with other
British tokens made for collectors. The U.S. Mint purchased
quantities of Talbot, Allum & Lee cents in 1795 and 1797 for
overstriking (cut down) into half cents.

Mention should be made of merchant counterstamps on
silver and later copper coins, which begin to appear in the
mid-1790's. The Spanish-American 2 reales was favored at first,
but later the U.S. large cent surpassed it by far. These pieces are
often included in collections of tokens. Research is continuing on
them, as many are not yet attributed.

The earliest U.S. communion token, mentioned previously,
was issued in 1799. A few game counters and anonymous
Washington tokens (most dated 1783) were issued in the early
part of the 19th century, but the next true trade tokens are
probably the Park Theatre, New York, ADMIT and PAID admission
tokens of 1817. In 1818 Jose Antonio de la Garza received
permission from the military governor of San Antonio, Texas to coin
8,000 "jolas" - 1/2 real tokens - which he did, though very few
are known today. Both varieties, large and small planchet, show
the lone star of Texas (though it did not have that meaning then)
on one side and de la Garza's initials, JAG, 1/2, and the date,
1818, on the other. In 1820 the North West Company, a British
fur trading company, issued one beaver tokens for use primarily
in the lower Columbia River valley of Oregon. They were
minted by John Walker & Co. of Birmingham in copper and
brass. All but two specimens are holed, and virtually every
specimen is corroded to some degree. This is because nearly
every specimen now known was taken from an Indian grave.

Tredwell, Kissam & Co. of New York, N.Y. issued a brass
token in 1823 commemorating the opening of the New York
Grand Canal, and this piece may be said to begin a series of trade
tokens that has continued almost unbroken to the present day.
From this point on there is such a flood of tokens that it is
impossible to speak of them all; rather, the broad periods of their
issue will be described, with a very few tokens selected as
archtypes.

The period up until 1832 is known as the Early American
period. During this period a number of cent-sized storecards
appeared in brass and copper. The Tredwell, Kissam & Co. and the
rare Wolfe, Spies & Clark pieces were struck by Kettle & Sons of
England, but the majority of tokens of this period were
manufactured by Richard Trested, Robert Lovett Sr., and Wright & Bale,
all of New York. Most pieces have advertising inscriptions and
types representative of the issuer's business such as hardware or
chairs. It is thought that most of these pieces saw limited
circulation as cents.

Tokens of the period 1833 - 1844 are known as Hard Times
Tokens, a name given them by Lyman H. Low in 1886 in his
book of that title. "Hard Times" certainly resulted from the
Panic of 1837, when specie payments were suspended, and
many of these tokens have reference - often satirical - to the
events of this period. But the term has now grown to encompass
any token minted during this period, even if it is merely a store
card, and is now simply a convenience for collectors. The
majority of these tokens actually circulated as cents (and, in one
instance, as a half cent), including the store cards. The pieces
attacking President Jackson (portrayed as a wild boar or a jackass)
are quite common in worn condition. The tokens of this period
have been the subject of several books (the current standard
reference is Hard Times Tokens by Russell Rulau, Second
Edition) and bring the highest prices of any American tokens after
the Colonial period; $6,000 was paid for a single token at the
March 26-27, 1980 Garrett Sale, and many other tokens brought
four-figure prices.

From 1845 - 1860 the series of U.S. merchant tokens
continued much as it had in the late "Hard Times" period.
Commercial types prevailed; there was very little of the political satire of
the 1830's. Counterstamped advertisements on cents and silver
coins increased greatly during this period, one of the most
common being the VOTE THE LAND FREE slogan of the Free Soil
Party in 1848. Another innovation was the widespread
introduction of spiel marke tokens, that is, pieces imitating the design of
current gold coins ($10, $5, and $20 pieces being the most
common, in that order), struck in brass, and intended for use as game
counters or poker chips. These pieces, showing the eagle or
Liberty head of the gold coins, or often both, are so numerous
that one numismatist, Michael Pfefferkorn, has written of this
era as the Spiel Marke Period.

In 1861 the outbreak of the Civil War led to the most
extensive series of tokens in U.S. history. Gold and silver began to be
hoarded almost immediately; by early 1862, the only currency in
circulation - other than paper - was the copper-nickel small
cent. Some merchants resorted to paper scrip, bearer checks, or
cardboard tokens. Postage stamps were also used for small
change, and many merchants in the East issued small envelopes,
usually with an advertising message, to keep them in. In the fall
of 1862 metal-encased postage stamps with an advertising
message on the case and a piece of mica to protect the stamp
were manufactured for a number of merchants by John Gault.
But a few months later, late in 1862, copper tokens the same
diameter as the small cent, but thinner, were issued in
Cincinnati and quickly copied throughout the East and Middle West.
(Our present small cent was changed in composition and
thickness in 1864 to match these tokens.)

In 1863 and 1864 a veritable flood of these tokens poured out
- far exceeding 25 million pieces, according to Civil War token
experts George and Melvin Fuld. So many were issued, in fact,
that Congress passed two acts to outlaw them: the Act of April
22, 1864 prohibited tokens of 1 cent and 2 cents value, and the
act of June 8, 1864 prohibited all private coinage, whatever its
denomination. These laws effectively suppressed the Civil War
tokens, as no cent-sized or denominated tokens are known dated
1865. However, by then the crisis was passing; the collapse of
the South and the end of the war was in sight, and the scarcity of
currency had been largely made up by huge issues of cents, the
introduction of the 2-cent piece in 1864 (to allow the Mint to coin
twice the face value of the cent with the same effort), and the
introduction of Postage Currency and Fractional Currency (paper
notes with denominations as low as 3 cents). The only exceptions
are an 1865 token of Idaho City, Idaho, on the frontier, and an
1865 token of Monmouth, Illinois, whose denomination is given
as "BAR CHECK" - instead of its actual face value (5 cents?) - to
evade the Act of June 8, 1864.

Civil War tokens are classified by collectors into two series,
Patriotic Civil War Tokens and Civil War Store Cards. The
"Patriotic" tokens are anonymous, struck from stock dies for
general circulation. Most have patriotic themes - ARMY &
NAVY, THE FLAG OF OUR UNION, LIBERTY AND NO
SLAVERY, etc. - but some "Copperhead" tokens were issued
with designs critical of the war, such as MILLIONS FOR
CONTRACTORS/NOT ONE CENT FOR THE WIDOWS. Store cards
are named with their issuers; they normally carry an advertisement
for the business, such as a mortar and pestle, trunk, stove,
stein of beer, etc., but many show simply a stock die such as an
Indian head, eagle, or patriotic theme. Both series might have
been redeemed by their issuers, but the store card series was, in
the main, intended to be, while the stock-die "Patriotic" pieces
(which cost the merchant less than their face value if enough
were purchased) were not. Actually, cent-size copper tokens
began to be issued before the Civil War, as early as 1858, and
many tokens are known dated 1861, which may be their actual
date of issue. These pre-Civil War tokens are usually collected
together with the genuine article due to the difficulty of
confidently separating them all out and long tradition otherwise,
though the latest catalogs identify many of them as "non-
contemporary" issues.

After the Civil War there is no generally agreed-on classification
of token-issuing eras. Dr. Benjamin P. Wright's The
American Store or Business Cards stops with the turn of the
century in 1901, and many collectors since then have considered the
end of the 19th century to be a dividing point. Russell Rulau's
United States Trade Tokens 1866-1889 uses 1890 as a watershed
because that is when aluminum tokens began to be produced in
quantity. I prefer a functional classification, so from this point
on the definition of eras is my own.

From 1866 to about 1900 is the Saloon Token Era. Now
saloon tokens are known from the Civil War, and after 1900, but
hundreds and hundreds of varieties were issued beginning about
1875, primarily in the Southwest. These tokens have denominations
such as 1 drink, 12 1/2 cents, 6 1/4 cents, or "a smile" (a small
whiskey). They are highly sought after and many command
three-figure prices, especially those with pictorial designs, ghost
town tokens, and territorial issues (from Arizona Territory,
Montana Territory, etc.). Another innovation of this period was the
pool token or "Brunswick" token, after the billiard company
that issued the overwhelming majority of them. Many of these
were "GOOD FOR 1 DRINK." A few counterstamps are known
from this period - OIL OF ICE and PARISIAN VARIETIES,
16.ST. & B'WAY N.Y. - are typical, but it is the end of the era
for them; advertising counterstamps are almost totally absent
after 1900. Merchant store cards and trade tokens are common
from this period also, but they are not characteristically different
from those issued prior to the Civil War. An extensive series of
these tokens have designs commemorating the Centennial of
American Independence in 1876.

Circa 1900 to 1931 is the Agriculture and Transportation
Token Era. Beginning in the 1890's many general stores, primarily
in the Middle West, began issuing tokens to pay farmers for
their produce in order to save bookkeeping and to provide
change in remote rural areas far from banks. Farm workers
tokens - pickers and peelers checks - blossomed during this
period. In the cities, streetcar and bus tokens were issued by the
millions. Transportation tokens have their origin at the beginning
of the 19th century with the toll road tokens of
Pennsylvania, and there are many omnibus and stage coach tokens
from New York City, Philadelphia, and Boston from the 1830's
on, but explosive growth in these issues took place all across the
country in the first quarter of the 20th century. They are so
common today that a collection of 100 different pieces can be
purchased for less than $20. Saloon tokens continued until
Prohibition in 1919, and two new forms of advertising token appeared:
the GOOD LUCK token, often with a swastika, horseshoe, and
other "lucky" symbols on it, and the encased cent, with an
advertising message and KEEP ME AND NEVER GO BROKE or
similar around the coin. These first appeared as souvenirs at the
Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901.

From 1931 to 1945 is the era of Government-Issued Tokens.
The first U.S. wooden money, released by the Chamber of
Commerce of Tenino, Washington during the depths of the
Depression, appeared in 1931, with further issues in 1932 and 1933, the
beginning of a flood of "wooden nickels" that shows no signs of
abating. The passage of the Illinois sales tax in March, 1933
resulted in a wave of so-called Provisional Sales Tax Tokens, of
which the Kewanee Chamber of Commerce piece was the first.
These were issued primarily by quasi-governmental bodies such
as retail merchants' associations and chambers of commerce,
though a few purely private issues also appeared. Creation of the
Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933 led to the issue of special
tokens for many of the camps. Two years later the first
state-issued sales tax tokens were issued, for the state of Washington.
Other state-issued sales tax tokens appeared that year; by 1937,
12 states had issued them. The Alaska Rural Rehabilitation
Commission, a bureau of the federal government, issued tokens for
use at their settlement in Matanuska Valley in 1935. A federal
government token issue of national distribution was the Office
of Price Administration Red Points and Blue Points, used for
rationing of meat and canned fruit and vegetables during the
Second World War. Another federal issue was the Department of
Justice Internment Camp canteen tokens for the camp in Crystal
City, Texas in 1942, used primarily by Japanese aliens. (There
were many prisoner of war camps in the United States at this
time, but all issued tickets instead of tokens.) This era also
witnessed the rebirth of the saloon token and the continuation of
advertising, transportation, and souvenir tokens.

After World War II, government issues (except for some
state sales tax tokens) disappeared. The period from 1946 to 1981
may be called the Souvenir Token Era. In this period the use of
trade tokens declined; the last farm workers' tokens and the last
coal mine tokens were used. Tavern tokens survived in a few
places like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, where plastic tokens
were introduced to hold down costs, and in special situations
like Chicago and suburbs where they were used to play the "26
game," a dice game tolerated by the authorities until about
1960 so long as winners were ostensibly paid off in tokens good
only for drinks. Gambling tokens of another kind came into
being in 1965 following the disappearance of the silver dollar from
circulation. All the casinos in Las Vegas and Reno (and
elsewhere where gambling was legal) issued $1 "gaming
tokens," primarily for use in slot machines. These tokens were
tolerated by the government because the casinos pledged to use
and redeem only their own issues. Other denominations,
including special "free play" come-on tokens, were also struck.
During this period, from 1961 to 1978, food stamp change tokens
were issued by many groceries and supermarkets throughout
America to make change for U.S. Department of Agriculture
food stamps, in order to conform to a regulation - since
changed - requiring that change for the lowest denomination of food
stamps be applied only to the purchase of eligible foods. But these
examples are mostly isolated and localized; the broadly-issued,
most-commonly-seen tokens of this period are souvenirs -
wooden nickels at first, then (starting in 1947) copper and
goldene brass souvenir trade tokens to commemorate local
anniversaries and celebrations. With inflation, denominations
grew from 25 cents at the beginning of the period, to (most
commonly) 50 cents, then $1, and finally $2. The Alaska statehood
trade dollar of 1959 (gold-plated with Alaska gold) alone had a
mintage of 100,000 pieces. By 1962 these pieces had become so
widespread that an Act was passed prohibiting their issue, but
they were not suppressed; a number of illegal pieces continued
to be issued in ignorance of the law, and the token
manufacturers who understood the rules simply modified the inscription
on the tokens. The use of transportation and advertising tokens
declined, as they were replaced by coins and pinback buttons
respectively.

About 1982 we entered the Era of Video Game Tokens.
Amusement tokens were introduced around the turn of the
century to play early slot machines (and legalize them in some
localities by avoiding payoff in currency) and became very
common during the 1930's before virtually dying out in the 1950's.
But the explosive growth of video games in the early 1980's -
led by the popularity of such games as Space Invaders and Pac
Man - gave rise to huge new token issues. Children who had
never before seen a token suddenly became quite familiar with
them. Most of these pieces use uninteresting stock dies, but
some are named with their issuer and a few even give a location.
Another innovation of this period is the ice machine token,
introduced by motels to prevent non-guests from helping
themselves to free ice. These are often from the same stock dies
as video game tokens or even cruder, such as ordinary quarters
painted with red nail polish. Already video games, and their
tokens, are showing unmistakable signs of decline, but the utility
and adaptability of tokens is certain to lead to their popping
up in some other unexpected place.

THE ROLL CALL OF THE STATES

Tokens have been issued in every state in the Union, Puerto
Rico, and most territories before they achieved statehood. So
wherever one lives, there is a specialty available in the tokens of
one's own locality. Unfortunately, out of the vast sea of
American tokens only a fraction have been catalogued, and for
almost half the states nothing at all is available. For those states
that have been catalogued, no catalog is quite complete; I
estimate that coverage ranges from close to 100% for romantic,
heavily-studied places like Alaska and Puerto Rico to about 50%
for a large state like Illinois. But this opportunity for original
contribution to the study of American tokens is part of the
appeal of the hobby, and many catalogers are working busily to
remedy this deficiency.

Following is the Roll Call of the States, with the catalogs
available for each of them:

These catalogs generally cover trade tokens from the 1870's
to the 1930's only, though other tokens may also be included.
Early tokens, medals, Civil War tokens, transportation tokens,
wooden nickels, encased postage stamps, etc. are often omitted
as they are covered by the following specialized catalogs:

TRANSPORTATION TOKENS

Roland C. Atwood and John M.
Coffee, Catalogue of United States and Canadian Transportation
Tokens, Fourth Edition, 1982.

In addition to these major categories, catalogs have been
issued for a wide variety of narrow specialties such as Ku Klux
Klan tokens, car wash tokens, prison money, automatic musical
instrument tokens, play money, soap tokens, etc., etc. Be it little
or big, there are plenty of opportunities to add to the literature of
American tokens. Happy collecting!